don't we present our 'best side', when first getting to know somone? |
FIRST DATE (not for publication) little dark corners in each of us: we spend every last bit of our time-- moments days years erasing, covering over, back-filling, redressing constantly shaking our heads, denying tiny locked drawers, cubby holes in every single one of us; carved out in the soft, early years-- moments eons eternities of unbearable experiences irrepressibly potent, unfathomably uncomfortable; proof positive that something is very wrong with us. on the beach of memories' feelings, emotional contours wait just offshore, beneath the surface, a sudden drop-off and the quick, deep rush of the undertow, grabbing our ankle and pulling us under tumbling tumbling but manageable; swept under rugs, for a while, at least, in those first days of growing to know someone: quieted old relatives knocked out; unmentionable family skeletons, silently hanging; unattractive younger cousins prone to unacceptable behavior locked away downstairs dark corners, that no one must ever see, that no one could possibly accept; each, reason enough for anyone to turn and walk away disgusted. |